The Hero's Journey of Kal-El

I used to think that "the hero's journey" was an antiquated method of telling a heroic story, but with the recent influx of superhero movies from both the DC and Marvel Universe, I now see that every hero story, with minor deviations, follows Joseph Campbell's monomyth.  I recently saw the new Superman reboot Man of Steel, and, besides its mediocrity in telling the story of Superman, it did refresh my memory on the lore of our comic book caped crusader.  And no surprise, his story fits Campbell's monomyth almost exactly.

While his story begins in the planet Krypton, he was only and infant and had no recollection of his home, so I will skip this part of the story to help prove my point.  We are introduced to Kal-El, or Clark, as a young boy living in an ordinary farmhouse with his two, ordinary parents.  Clark grows up knowing that he was special, but must stifle his own abilities as the ordinary world he lives in is not ready for him.  One day, as Clark is struggling with his inability to fit in with the other kids, his adopted father counsels him and shows him the spaceship in which Clark was sent to earth, revealing to Clark his true origin and telling Clark that he was meant to do something great in this world.

At first, Clark refuses  his call to adventure.  He floats from job to job, avoids making friends, and keeps his powers a secret.  Unexpected circumstances happen, however, and Clark is forced to use his powers to save dozens of lives from an exploding oil rig.  After the incident, he continues to be a drifter, trying to find a place where he belongs with little success until he stumbles upon the frozen Kryptonian spaceship.

And as the monomyth suggests, Clark now meets with his mentor.  In the movie, the Mentor comes in the form of his father's digitally fabricated consciousness.  This consciousness talks to Clark about the story of the destruction of Krypton and fills Clark with a purpose to protect the people on Earth from Zod.  Clark crosses the threshold by donning the skin-tight suit and cape and walks through the spaceship door into the world as a new man.  Clark, now filled with confidence and purpose, begins to test his abilities.  Clark experiments with his Kryptonian strength and abilities as well as befriending Lois Lane, an ally in whom he can trust.

The approach and ordeal is Clark's confrontation with Zod's henchmen and the terraforming machine.  He succeeds in defeating his foes as well as destroying the terraforming machine, saving Earth.  It is assumed that the conflict is over but as Clark assesses the destruction of  Metropolis, he finds that General Zod is still alive.  Zod's resurrection serves as the final test for Clark as he is forced to choose between his  own race and the people of Earth.  Clark makes his decision and kills Zod, proving his loyalty to Earth.  With this, Clark assumes the role of Earth's protector and guardian and finds his place in the "ordinary world" in which he lives.